An Alabama State University student who went missing for 5 days has been found dead. The body of Adam “Belle” Dowdell Jr. was found behind a church on the 800 block of Hutchinson Street about 2:45 p.m Monday.
Dowdell, 22, graduated from Montevallo High School, where he played on the boys football team. He was a second-year student majoring in physical education at Alabama State University in downtown Montgomery.
Dowdell left his dorm around 8 p.m. Tuesday to get money from an ATM, but his friends say he never returned.
His mother, Toya Cohill, says Dowdell did not have a car on campus. She said he and a friend went to get cash from an ATM machine.
Cohill said she last spoke to her son on Monday, and his siblings spoke with him the following day. But on Wednesday, she got messages from friends saying he hadn’t returned to his dorm and no one had heard from him.
“I’ve slept three hours a day,” Cohill said. Cohill and relatives made the 70-mile trip to Montgomery from the Alabaster area, where Dowdell is from.
He left his backpack and cell phone charger in his room and his relatives were unable to track his phone because the battery was dead.
Montgomery police Capt. Saba Coleman said the circumstances of Dowdell’s death are under investigation. No other information was released and there are no suspects.
ASU President Quinton T. Ross Jr. released a statement on Monday.
“We all had hoped for a different outcome,” Ross said. “Losing a student is always difficult, and the Hornet Nation is in mourning over his death. Our thoughts and prayers are certainly with Adam’s mother and the rest of his family and friends as they face this tragic loss.”
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 334-215- STOP, Secret Witness at 334-625-4000 or Montgomery Police at 334-625-2831.
